Using tests and quizzes as a learning tool

[Shashi]

This really doesn't have much to do with MS, except that it can make our job as educators a bit more effective, which is always good.

I'm sure most of us use tests and quizzes as a way to measure our students' understanding of the material we are presenting to them. They are very useful for this purpose; but for the most part, once the test is taken and reviewed, their usefulness is ended.

Years ago, I found a way to use tests and quizzes not just as a way to evaluate learning, but as a learning tool too.

After my students take a test or quiz, I don't give them the answers for the questions that they miss. Instead, I have them look up those questions in their textbooks and on a form I give to them, tell me what the answer is and what the textbook says about it. They have to write word for word exactly what the book says about that answer, and they also have to provide me with the page number that the answer is found on.

In return for completing this exam review assignment, they receive 1/4 (sometimes 1/2) of the points back for that question. This serves as extra credit for those that need it, as they can increase their grade and at the same time, it reinforces the information they need help with.

Also, for some of their exams, I let them write as much information as they can fit on a 3x5 card to use during the exam. The act of writing what they think will be on the test really helps them learn the material too. (Though I often can't figure out how they can possibly write so small and then read it!)

Do you have any teaching tips that you can share?

[profe]

Student aides. I don't know what level you teach, but if your students are old enough....get and use student aides. Whether or not you can use them to do any actual grading, they can do things like alphabetize the papers so that it's easier for you to record the grades. (I sometimes get dizzy from looking back and forth from the papers to the computer screen--having the papers in order really helps this.)

I also like to use on-line stuff for whatever I can. Our school uses a system called BrainHoney, where you can have on-line reviews, assignments, quizzes, even discussion boards (although I don't know enough about the system to do that just yet). I also really like Quia.com for games, review, etc.

To save time writing tests & stuff (and this is similar to what you described) I will sometimes have students create questions for review, then I will use some of those on the actual test. Even the HS kids get a kick out of seeing a question that they created show up on my test.

Saving me time on grading, and helping the students understand the material, I will let them work together on classwork; say I need a day just to give them "seat work." They can work on it in pairs or even small groups (generally not more than 3, or it turns into one person working while the others chat) and as long as everyone's name is on it, they all get the credit. I only have to grade half the number of papers (or less) and they end up helping each other, talking through the questions, and generally going over the material much more thoroughly than if they were working alone. This takes monitoring, of course, but we do that anyway, right?

A relatively new one for me is what I call "one fact at a time." I take a list of whatever info we're going to be studying and break it into single, simple sentences. Every student gets one sentence on a piece of paper. They have 5 minutes to memorize their sentence, then we arrange into a double circle (inside/outside) so that everyone is facing a partner. Students have to teach their sentence/fact to their partner--recite it "at" them until they can recite it back to you, word for word. Each student does this. Then, they trade pieces of paper, rotate the circle so that they have a new partner, and start the process again. If you take 15 or 20 minutes to do this, especially as the intro activity for a new unit, it really pulls them into it in spite of themselves.

OK, enough out of me--I'm headed home to host Thanksgiving!! Happy Break, everyone!

[Nabbosa]

Professor tricks

Shashi -

Not sure if this is helpful, as I teach at the college level, but in the very first class I taught as a grad student, I realized the power of the "blank".

In other words, if the answer should only be one or two words, draw a line and students will write on it. If you don't, they will write anywhere in the space left blank. With 65 papers to grade, that saved a lot of time and energy!

Also, this year I've added group work in which the groups present to the class. This would need tweaking for younger kids, but in my case, the students work harder and do better work because their group members exert positive peer pressure (so the group grade won't be lower for a weak link), and because nobody wants to look bad in front of the class. On top of it, I don't have to take papers home to grade, and sometimes they get so into the project that I learn something from them.

I like the thing with the students turning in the answer after the test - I might try that myself!

We have an electronic course management system (it seems most universities use one these days), and I have the students post to the electronic discussion board as part of their grade. It can be about a news story, or an event they attended that has to do with our topic - being in a big city, that's not uncommon. I've also allowed them to review movies or museum exhibits in a way that is informational to their fellow students - also in the hopes that a peer talking up something like that will get more of them interested than if I told them about it.

[Shashi]

Nabossa, the college where I teach also uses a course management system. (We use Moodle, but at other schools where I've taught, we've used WebCT and Desire-2-Learn.)

Several years ago, I had my students discuss ethical dilemma questions on the message boards, and one of the cases was that of Terry Shiavo. The discussion went on for over two months! I finally had to shut it down. I was very pleased with the interaction that was going on. I don't get that as much these days. I guess I need to find more interesting topics.

Also, I used to cart home tons of papers to grade. Now, I have my students turn everything in to the drop boxes in Moodle, and I grade everything electronically using Microsoft Word's track changes and new comments features. (I taught medical and business transcription for several years and these options were great for grading.)

I also have my students write test questions as well, like profe suggested. Sometimes I'll have them swap papers and take the tests as they've been written. They also have to rate the test when they finish it, and that grade is averaged in with their test grade. (I usually will only do this for short quizzes, not major tests.)

Another thing I've done is allow the students to write as much information as they can on an index card, and they can use the card when they take the test. I think the act of writing the information helps them to learn it better. I'm always amazed at how tiny some of them can write, and even more amazed that they can actually read it!

With team projects, I have my students evaluate each member in the team, as well as their own performance, and that also factors in with their grade for the project.

To save time grading, I will usually have the students complete and turn in their homework (to the Moodle drop box), and then we review the answers in class. Then they get a completion grade for that assignment. (If they complete the entire assignment, they get 100; if they don't, they get a 0; and if they only partially complete it, they get whatever percentage they completed.) This saves me having to go through and correct everything, and I can usually grade much faster. The greatest portion of their grades come from tests and quizzes and their midterm and final exams, so getting 100 on all of their homework really doesn't affect their grade that much.

These are great tips! Thanks for sharing them, and keep them coming!

[chalknpens]

Moodle?

Hi Sashi,
I googled moodle after reading your post ... but I didn't understand what you said about "having the students drop their work into the Moodle box" ... I watched the "demo" or introduction ... is it a software that will correct work? is it an editing software? is it a grading/record keeping database?

I confess, I am old, and planning on retirement in June, but if this is something I've been unaware of, something I could share with my partners who have many more years of grading and correcting ahead of them, I would like to be able to introduce them to it. Did I miss an explanatory page, or misunderstand your note?

Just an old dog, trying to pass along new tricks to be used.

[Shashi]

Hi Sashi,
I googled moodle after reading your post ... but I didn't understand what you said about "having the students drop their work into the Moodle box" ... I watched the "demo" or introduction ... is it a software that will correct work? is it an editing software? is it a grading/record keeping database?

I confess, I am old, and planning on retirement in June, but if this is something I've been unaware of, something I could share with my partners who have many more years of grading and correcting ahead of them, I would like to be able to introduce them to it. Did I miss an explanatory page, or misunderstand your note?

Just an old dog, trying to pass along new tricks to be used.

Moodle is a course management system software, like Blackboard or WebCT (however, unlike them, it's free for schools to use.)

The drop boxes are just areas where the students upload their homework files, kind of like e-mailing them to an e-mail address, instead of handing in paper copies of their work. I can then open the document files in MS Word, make whatever comments or notes I need to, and give them a grade for their work. Moodle has a grade book, so when I mark their grade for each assignment in the drop box, it is automatically recorded in the grade book and automatically calculated.

Unfortunately, Moodle isn't a software that individual teachers can use alone - it has to be installed on a network server and used by the school.

(I hope this makes sense!)

[heliotrope]

There are a few other options that can be used if the school won't use or pay for the fancy software.

Windows live has a document sharing option (as far as I know, it's still free). You can limit who has access to which files, so it's great if you want a whole group to see your comments or just one person.

My favorite trick (though not directly test/quiz related) was running online office hrs. Works great on the days you can't stand up or when the kids are panicking the day before the test. I used blackboard's chat option, which allows all of the kids to sign in at the same time. I found that if I didn't reply fast enough, my students were answering their own questions. If you want a cheaper option, I've seen AIM and Skype used to do the same thing.